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How about looking at our awful Running Game over those years. So far this year Tom Brady has NO ONE to throw to but the Patriots top 3 RBs are averaging 4.5/carry. It certainly helps to be able to run the ball in order to pass the ball and overall score points.

Interesting as well. If you look only at avg yds/att for each season over that time it was nearly flat up to 2012 at ~4 yds/att. (2012 dropped to 3.7 yds/att).
But, a little closer look revealed an interesting downward trend that tracks with the original decline:

I think you can take that a step further and say our OL is substandard right now. And why is our OL substandard? Well, if you can answer THAT question, you may have identified the root of the problem. My best guess is the continuing rotation of players and coaches that never allow the line to coalesce. If we can shore up the line and gain some consistency, our PPG would almost have to improve. Our OL is the weakness and we all knew it before the season even started.

Can't say that over the course of Ben's entire career, he had a serviceable line for at least 4 years.

took a quick look at Brady and Brees and as expected they show a general upward trend over the same period. and you can argue Brady has done more with less over that time.

It completely coincides with what our eyes see too, at least when it comes to Ben. I'd then be curious, if you could look back at QBs with similar playing styles to Ben. I'm thinking John Elway, who I believe had a bit of a decline in his late career until TD and Shanahan came (i.e. Bell/Haley?)

We are at a precarious time. Ben can still play, but we can't tie ourselves too him too much, &/or count on him to consistently pull rabbits out of hats, or even carry us anymore. It is great that we have a potential "Bellcow" in place... But the shift in focus must come; otherwise, we should say bye bye to Ben (i.e. move on from him) and look for a QB who has that franchise-carrying ability now (which would mean, no Jake Matthews this year).

I don't think Ben's changed all that much. He's pretty much the same as he was on day 1. About the only difference is he holds the ball longer to go thru more progressions rather than just looking at half the field.

Seems like a flawed stat in that it is highly susceptible to field position (and defensive scoring if it isn't included). Our D has also been in decline and so I would suspect average starting field position for the offense has taken a hit. How do these numbers bounce up against red zone efficiency?

In response to his pleas, an officer said: "You think we've never arrested somebody that's made national media? ... We deal with the Bengals all the time."

Yes. Coincidently that was near the beginning of his career when his points per minute average where much higher.

And hate to say it... coincidentally when Tomlin had more of & younger Cowher players that we haven't been able to replace. Also, during that time, Ben was always considered a "game manager" and maybe that is what he's best at.